End of Aparheid

In 1990 Nelson Mandela was released from prison after serving for 28 years. He was elected President of South Africa in 1994 and served for four years. When he took office South Africa was a divided nation. Divided by race and poverty. How did Mandela manage to reunite South Africa as a nation of black and white?

When Mandela took over the preparations for the rugby world cup, hosted by South Africa, already under way. Rugby was an almost unanimously white sport in South Africa, but Mandela saw an opportunity. He would unite South Africa under a team, the South Africa Springboks, a team all black South Africans hated, but Madiba was determined. After several successful PR-tours for the team, the interest for rugby increased before the world cup. It was crucial for the nation of South Africa to overcome expectation and maybe even win! And they did!

When captain of the Springboks Francois Pienaar received the trophy Mandela walked out on the field and congratulated him in a Springbok jersey and cap. For many that marked the end of apartheid and a segregated South Africa.

Post 9/11

In 2010 Cracked.com released their tongue-in-cheek awards for the last decade. Awards went to best TV-show, best video-game and best viral video, which for some strange reason went to "2 girls 1 cup". Candidates for "New Word of the Decade" was e.g. Tweet and Green, as in eco-friendly. The word that interested me though was "Post- 9/11!".

We all remember where we were and what we did that day nearly ten years ago. When Al Qaida attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. It was the first attack on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor in 1941.

We now live in a "post-9/11" world with invasive body-scanning in Airports to the PATRIOT Act and horrible political rhetoric. But today it is mostly used as an excuse or punch line. The most famous and prominent use of the term "post 9/11" are used in politics. The most prominent use was in the legislation process of the PATRIOT Act. The PATRIOT Act is often frowned upon as it limits some civil liberties and make wire-taps and other investigative activities. Even censorship of Radio and TV have been forced to stop airing reruns of certain "un-American" TV-episodes and a list of several hundred songs deemed inappropriate and not to be played on radio because of their lyrics. The term "post-9/11" has also in some instances been reduced to one of the worst pick-up lines ever; "hey we should totally hook, or the terrorists win".

Maybe the men and women of the future will learn about our time as "Post-9/11" next to the Cold War, industrial age and the Renaissance in history class.

Christmas movie

Today we saw Narnia in class. To me the movie isn't very "Christmassy", but an enjoyable film. Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the wardrobe is based on the book of the same by C.S. Lewis. The book is one of many in the Narnia series which in total is seven books.

The Narnia series has many similarities with another series; Lord Of The Rings. And this isn't purely coincidental. Both Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien fought on the western front during "The Great War". Many of the epic scenes in both series draw inspiration from both writers experiences during the war.
Maybe the best example of this is seen in Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings. In the second book the protagonists cross a wasteland where there was a battle long before. In the waters and pits there are dead bodies looking up drawing people in. This is partly based on a riverbed close to the Somme where Tolkien fought. When the soldiers crossed the riverbed they could see their comrades faces staring at them with a dead gaze.

The Narnia series has a religious perspective unlike its counter part. C.S. Lewis was going through a religious phase at the time of writing and many of the characters are allusions of biblical figures, e.g Aslan having a striking resemblance to Jesus, even though he's a lion.

It's leaking!

Julian Assange, self proclaimed watchdog and future Bond villain, is again in the spotlight of the world. The liberal hacker/journalist/philanthropist is on the run from the international authorities. Accused of rape and three accounts of sexual harassment he has now gone underground.

The most recent dump of documents is mainly diplomatic gossip. It gives an honest picture of the real diplomatic relations free of any false smiles and awkward televised conversations. It shows us that official policy isn’t the same as personal opinion. American diplomats call Kim Jong Il a “flabby old chap” and Putin and Medvedev Batman and Robin. The rant goes on and on about every major world leader, but is this so terrifying?

The opinion of the diplomat isn’t the same as the country’ foreign policy, so as long as no one starts crying the world won’t end in a nuclear holocaust, yet.
When it comes to Julian Assange he is currently in an undisclosed location waiting for the diplomats to stop calling each other names, and when they do it will all go back to normal. Or at least until WikiLeaks releases a new load.

Japan vs. World

In class today we read about how Japan has tackled the clash between their own and western culture.

When the Japanese surrendered after WW2 many westerners came to Japan and were shocked by what they saw. They thought of the Japanese culture as childlike and immature. But instead of folding to the western culture, the Japanese went on the offensive.

Today the phenomenon of "Manga" and "Anime" are taking over our animated culture. Disney Channel now broadcasts shows like "American Dragon" in "Anime-style". Pokemon and Digimon might not be as popular now as they were, but Japanese culture has definitely left it's mark on Western Culture.

Delivering expectations or…?

Last week we saw the adaption of the novel The Kite Runner. In the previous weeks (8 or more) we read the novel and did several tasks regarding it. The movie is a fateful adaption, and will please the ones who read it and those who's never even heard of it. on the other hand it is in a way too faithful; e.g. in a sequence where Amir returns to Afghanistan the dialogue is exactly the same. That itself is not a bad thing, but I don't think the screenplay and the novel should be the same thing.


But as always anyone who read can't help, but feel disappointed. It is an unbreakable law, we all have a different idea about how the characters look like and sound like. And when everybody's got a different idea someone is bound to disappointed. And this time it was me. It wasn't a particular person, but the feel of the movie.

Every Hollywood movie filmed that is supposed to take place in the middle east have this feel to it. They all the same music; some Lisa Gerrard or Dead Can Dance (same thing), the same visuals; a yellow filter and the same actors. I feel kind of sorry for actor Saïd Taghmaoui. I have seen him in several Hollywood-movies and he always portrays a terrorists. So it pleased me to see that he for once played a good guy.

But in the end it was an ok film. Nothing more nothing less, just bland.

Erin Brokovich

"Erin Borokovich" is a story about a single mom and uneducated legal assistant who uncovers a major cover-up of a pollution scandal in southern California. It stars Julia Roberts as the title character, Albert Finney as her boss and Aaron Eckhart as her love-interest. The movie is all about the title character and it relies on her for both plot and comical relief all the way through. If it hadn't been for Roberts performance as Erin the movie wouldn't have won the audiences hearts and minds. And that is a bad thing. There are few if any scenes without Roberts in them and those are either pointless or street shots of buildings. The other characters are one dimensional and uninteresting and only in the film to be ridiculed by Erin and to never be seen again. The film was nominated to four Academy Awards in 2001, but Roberts was the only one the film one. Steven Soderbergh lost the best director award to himself for his other film the superior movie "Traffic".